You need a "k" after "c" to separate it from "i" and "e", otherwise pronunciation would have been altered. "C" followed by the i,e, and y is pronounced differently, compare: cat, coach, cube and cigar, celebrity, cyber.

You need a "k" after "c" to separate it from "i" and "e", otherwise pronunciation would have been altered. "C" followed by the i,e, and y is pronounced differently, compare: cat, coach, cube and cigar, celebrity, cyber.

I've seen it explained before that the "k" is necessary to preserve the hard "c" sound, but I still don't know why this should be. "Celtic" doesn't have to be "Ckeltic" to pronounce it with an initial hard "c".